Pitt State QB back in the saddle

His first year at the helm, Pittsburg State quarterback Mark Smith broke a bone in his non-throwing arm.

Matthew Clark

His first year at the helm, Pittsburg State quarterback Mark Smith broke a bone in his non-throwing arm.

He spent his second year as starting quarterback getting over the first year’s injury.

Now, in his third, and final season, with the Gorillas, Smith seems ready to guide Pitt State without trepidation.

“I just have to erase the mistakes that I have had for the last two years,” Smith said. “I have become a better player as well as smarter and wiser and I just have to be a good leader for the team.”

Pitt State offensive coordinator Tim Beck said that he can understand Smith’s feeling to prove something during his senior campaign.

“I think he feels like he has something to prove as far as being a leader for this team,” Beck said.

“That is just the kind of young man that he is. He is always going to look at the team first and he understands that he is a big part of leading this team back to the playoffs.”

But, as a player, Beck said that Smith has nothing to prove.

“As far as a player at quarterback, I don’t think that he has to validate that with any of the team,” “I think that his teammates know what kind of a leader he is and everybody looks up to him.”

So much so that Smith was picked by his teammates to be one of the captains for this year’s Gorilla squad.

Even opposing coaches are taking note of just what kind of threat Smith is for the Gorillas.

“He knows what Coach wants to have done,” said Central Oklahoma head coach Tracy Holland. “He can really lead the veteran offense that Pittsburg State has.”

The one thing that has been at the forefront of Smith’s mind has been the fact that the Gorillas have missed postseason play for the last two seasons.

“The whole team has thought about things this season,” Smith said. “We have not been happy with the previous year’s results and we have come out with a new sense of urgency in practice and we are ready to play someone else except for each other.

“You come here to be a winner and we have a great tradition here,” Smith said. “To be one of the best teams at this school you have to make the playoffs and that is what our goal is this year ... to get into the playoffs and move deep into the playoffs.”

It was that injury his sophomore season that changed things for Smith.

“I thought we had great chemistry at that time of the season and we were having a good season but it all just fell apart for me,” Smith said. “The team had a good year but we still did not make the playoffs.”

That left him shaking the jitters when his junior season came around.

“The first game I was thinking that I had not been tackled since I got hurt,” Smith said. “After the game, I had about 15 carries and I felt like it was fine and I stopped thinking about it after that game.”

Despite that mindset, the Gorillas still did not make the playoffs after a loss to Washburn.

“It was not what you wanted but I am looking forward to that this year,” Smith said.

That leads back to this year when the rust is off and Smith said that there are no excuses for him.

“I have no excuses,” Smith said. “People will ask me how my arm is doing but I just think about how that happened two years ago and I don’t think about it anymore.”

That leads us to this season where the expectations, as with every Gorilla football team, are high with playoffs as the goal.

Beck said that Smith showed his maturity and willingness to take a leadership role over the summer.

“I think that it probably started in the beginning of the summer,” Beck said. “We, as coaches, cannot be there and we met with them to tell them what they can and can’t do but he took over after that.”

Beck said that Smith threw with the receivers over the summer as well as pitched with the running backs, without any instruction from the coaching staff.

“Mark is a quiet guy that does not say much,” Beck said. “He will say something when it needs to be said but he knows when to say something and when not to.”

Smith said that he still thinks of that sixth game during his sophomore season, but not for the reason that people might think.

“I always look back to that as motivation,” Smith said. “I want people to know that I am not just injury-prone and I can play all 11 games this year and that is what I am going to do.”

Even after a sophomore season that was cut short with injury and a junior season of trying to work past that injury, Beck said that he and the rest of the coaching staff is comfortable giving Smith the role of the field general on game day.

“There is no question,” Beck said. “He will feel comfortable enough this year to make suggestions that we will look at and it is the same thing that we went through with Neal Philpot and Andy Majors. As they get older, it is my job to make sure they know the offense as well as I do and Mark is to that point now.”

Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140

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